How to Set Up Automatic Investing with Robinhood: Step-by-Step Guide

How Robinhood Recurring Investing Works

Unlike Charles Schwab (which restricts automatic plans to mutual funds), Robinhood lets you automate any eligible ETF or stock starting at $1 directly on a schedule—including VOO, VTI, SCHD, and VXUS—inside either a taxable account or a Robinhood Roth IRA. Before combining multiple ETFs, run your tickers through our ETF Overlap Tool to make sure you are not accidentally buying the same top holdings twice.

Step 1: Connect Your External Checking Account

1. Open the Robinhood app (or robinhood.com), tap the Account icon → Menu → Transfers → Linked Accounts, and verify your external checking account is connected.
2. You can either set up a standalone recurring bank transfer into Buying Power or let Robinhood's Recurring Investment workflow pull cash on demand when each scheduled order executes.

Step 2: Schedule Your Recurring ETF or Stock Order

1. Search for your chosen index ETF (for example, VOO or VTI—see our Recommended Index Funds list) and tap Buy.
2. In the top-right order dropdown (which defaults to Dollars or Market Order), select Recurring Investment.
3. Pick your start date, cadence (Every Market Day, Every Week, Every Two Weeks, or Every Month), funding source (Checking Account or Buying Power), and dollar amount ($1 minimum), then swipe/submit to activate.

Step 3: Enable Dividend Reinvestment (DRIP)

Go to Menu → Investing → Dividend Reinvestment and toggle DRIP on. With DRIP active, quarterly ETF dividends automatically buy fractional shares rather than drifting into idle cash.